


What It Is We're Fighting For

by ManlyQuail



Category: RWBY
Genre: Childhood Memories, Conviction - Freeform, Gen, Memory, One Shot, Volume 8 (RWBY), dream - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:21:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27913705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ManlyQuail/pseuds/ManlyQuail
Summary: In a moment of weakness James Ironwood drifts off into a dream of his childhood. In this dream his mother tells him of the War, and he is reminded of everything he's fighting to protect.
Kudos: 5





	What It Is We're Fighting For

Running quickly along the stone path of the gardens, a youth with short black hair and broad shoulders smiled bright beneath the winter sun. In any other circumstances he would be dressed up with a puffy coat to keep warm and walking at a slower, more proper pace, but clutched behind his back was a gift he couldn’t wait to give. Pausing briefly at a fork, he looked from side to side for any signs of the person he was looking for, his breath visible in the chilly conditions. As he began to step in a direction he’d chosen without thought, the sound of soft humming drew his attention to the other path, and he eagerly resumed running as quickly as he could manage.

Row after row of beautiful flowers, flowers that had grown strong enough to withstand the cold conditions of Atlas, blurred by in a rainbow of every color imaginable as he sprinted. It was a garden he’d grown to love, one that he’d hoped one day to learn to tend just as well as his mother, and just as that thought crossed his mind she came into his view.

Sitting gently on a smooth wooden bench, a pale brown with signs of wear, sat a woman with black hair identical to his own reaching down to her back. Soft blue eyes stared up at the sky where tiny slivers of light cut through the clouds to cast a gentle light over the flowers around her. Hearing the deep breathing of her son, Delphinia Ironwood turned her head and offered him a soft smile with a look of surprise.

“James, you’ll catch a cold dear, what are you doing out here?” Standing and moving quickly towards him, her surprised smile turned to a look of curious concern as she crouched next to the panting boy and quickly began to look over his face for any signs of injury.

“I’m fine mom!” Squirming away from her touch, embarrassed by her overly concerned nature, he took a step back doing his best to ensure that his surprise was kept hidden behind his back. “I got you a present and couldn’t wait to show you!”

“Oh? A present for me? You’re so thoughtful. Here, let me close my eyes, and you tell me when to look okay?” Thankful for the safety of her son, Delphinia sat softly on the stone path and placed her hands over her eyes. For a brief teasing moment she spread apart her fingers to peek through at the boy, and his cheeks puffed in frustration.

“No peeking!” Instantly, and with a chuckle, his mother closed both her eyes and her fingers. Leaning side to side, doing his best to make sure she really wasn’t peeking this time, James withdrew the gift he’d been racing to give to his mother. “Alright, you can look now!”

Opening her eyes and letting her hands rest down at her lap, Delphinia was surprised to see it was a flower with a mixture of yellow and pink petals. It was a unique color pattern that she’d never seen before, and her eyes drifted down towards the roots that had been torn in what she assumed to be a rather abrupt pull.

“It’s beautiful dear, but where did you get it?” Reaching forward, she happily took the gift, though the concern in her eyes as she glanced between the roots and her son caused his smile to falter slightly.

“I uhh…” James immediately looked away from his mother, his hands fidgeting at his waist as he looked between the individual bricks of the path beneath them in an attempt to think of a quick lie.

“Jaaames?” Leaning down, doing her best to meet his eyes, Delphinia extended a hand to tilt his chin upwards.

“I got it from Celestine’s garden…” Pouting slightly as he betrayed his truth to his mother, James let out a huff. “I saw it when I was walking home from the academy. She had a whole bunch of them, and it was so pretty! I knew you’d really like it so I snuck over her fence and grabbed one really fast. Nobody saw me, I swear!”

“Well, just because nobody  _ else _ knows you took it doesn’t mean that  _ you _ don’t know. Don’t you feel bad about stealing something, especially something so pretty?” Leaning forward and placing a gentle hand on the boy's shoulder, Delphinia watched as her son frowned and nodded slowly.

“I mean, I guess a little, but she had like ten of them and you didn’t have any! It’s not fair!” Grumbling slightly, James turned from his mother and crossed his arms in frustration.

“Tell you what, we’ll replant it together and let it sit in the window for  _ one _ day, and then we’ll return it, okay?” Leaning forward, she let her nose rest gently above the petals and slowly inhaled the subtly sweet aroma of the flower. “It smells lovely, have you smelled it yet dear?”

“No, not yet…” Turning slowly, still visibly upset that they’d eventually have to return the flower, James squinted intensely at the flower as his mother extended it out towards him. Looking between the flower and his mother’s curious expression, James gave the smallest of sniffs, and couldn’t help but let out a smile as the sweet scent filled his senses.

“Now there’s that smile I love to see on my little man.” Chuckling softly, Delphinia ruffled his hair before standing up and gesturing back down the path. “Now, let’s get you inside and warm. We’ll get this planted again and get some cocoa, does that sound good?”

“Yeah…” Doing his best to hide his suddenly pleasant mood, James couldn’t entirely hide his smile as his mother extended her hand down for him to take. Eagerly he took hold and cheerfully walked back down the path while enjoying the warmth her hand provided. “I’m not cold though! Huntsman deal with stuff way colder than this weather all the time!”

“Oh? Is that what they’ve been teaching you at the academy?” Glancing down with a raised brow at her eager little man, Delphinia watched as he nodded eagerly.

“Yup! They teach us all things about being a Huntsman! I like the action and combat stories they tell in history class too. Today we started learning about The Great War between Mantle, Mistral, and Vale!” Pausing slightly, Delphinia glanced down with yet another look of concern as James tried to skip merrily ahead without her. Almost falling back from the pull of her hand at the sudden stop, James tilted his head curiously and looked up at the worry in his mother’s eyes.

“What kind of things are they teaching you?” Doing her best to sound positive, Delphinia still looked nervous as her son’s eyes lit up.

“Oh all sorts of things! About the epic battle that started in Sanus, and the big fight all the Kingdoms had!” Withdrawing his hand James eagerly crawled his way onto the small brick ledge that ran the perimeter of the flower beds and took a stoic pose. “Mantle fighters teamed up with Mistral fighters to do battle with the mean King of Vale! While Mantle and Mistral were trying to do their best to protect the people, Vale kept telling everybody that our side was being mean by telling everybody what to do, but it was for the greater good! In the end Vale ended up winning and enforced the silly color rule on everybody.”

Delphinia frowned at the rather biased story being taught to children these days regarding The Great War and couldn’t help but shake her head with a soft sigh.

“What’s the matter? Did I tell it wrong! We only got the basics so far but I’m sure there’s a ton more awesome battles that happened!” Quickly seeing the concern in his mother’s eyes, James rushed to her side and took her hand in hopes he hadn’t disappointed her with his retelling of the war as he knew it.

“I’m sure there are, but I worry that your school isn’t telling you the  _ whole _ story about why the war started.” Glancing from James and towards the horizon, Delphinia glanced out across the surrounding city of Atlas with another heavy sigh.

“Do you know? Oh, tell me tell me! I want to know all about the battles! Maybe I can tell the stories in class tomorrow and get extra credit!” Eagerly hopping up and down at his mother’s side, James was suddenly brimming with energy as he tugged her arm to hurry her back towards their home.

“Settle down James!” Chuckling at the sudden enthusiasm of her son, Delphinia decided this would be the perfect opportunity to share her thoughts on the war with her son before he learned too much from the wrong people. “Okay okay, I’ll tell you what I know, but only after we’ve got this plant potted and the cocoa is done.”

“Deal! Let’s hurry then, I want to know everything!” Tugging harder, James pulled his mother with as much strength as he could muster, to which she responded with a light jog by his side through a winter breeze and back towards their home.

Despite his insistence that he hadn’t been cold, as soon as they’d crossed the threshold into their sizable home James let out a sigh of relief as the heating system warmed his body. Delphinia chuckled at this, and he immediately went back to pretending like he’d never been cold in the first place, and quickly rushed her towards their storage room where pots and soil were kept in storage.

“While we’re on the subject of teaching, let me teach you a little something about taking care of flowers.” Setting the flower down on a table, Delphinia reached up to open a cabinet and pulled down a modest brown pot, placing it gently beside the flower. Turning her head to search for an already opened bag of soil, Delphinia couldn’t help but fight the urge to laugh as she watched James attempt to carry a bag of soil nearly the same size as himself towards her. The open end of the bag slouched over to the side and leaving a small trail of soil behind him as he made his way towards her with several grunts of determination, and Delphinia couldn’t find it in her heart to point out the mess he was making while being so sweet.

With a final heavy grunt, James dropped the bag at his mother’s feet and did his best to control his breathing to hide how much of a struggle moving the bag had been. With another pat on the head, his mother pulled out a chair beneath the table the pot and flower rested on, and he eagerly climbed up to watch the process.

“Now then, when we pull flowers we must be very careful with how we take them out of the dirt.” Moving the flower closer to James, Delphinia gestured to the torn roots at the base of the plant, and watched as his face turned to a nervous frown.

“Did I hurt the flower? Is it going to be okay?!” Starting to panic, James looked between the flower and his mother.

“It’s going to be just fine James, but in the future you have to be careful so you don’t hurt things when you don’t mean to.” Delphinia hovered her hand over the roots and closed her eyes. A subtle green coloration flowed softly over her hands as she activated her aura, and the roots responded with a glow of their own. James watched in surprise as the damaged portions of the root seemed to heal, the pieces that had been torn elongating, and the glow began to fade.

“Wow! Was that your semblance?” Any concern James had had over the damage to the flower had vanished as bounced eagerly in his seat.

“Very good James! They’ve been teaching you all sorts of things haven’t they?” With the flower healed, Delphinia smiled softly at James, proud of how smart he was proving to be. Reaching across the table, she moved the pot closer before lifting the heavy bag of soil up onto the table beside her.

“Yup! I’m hoping I get a really cool semblance, something that makes me a really good fighter so I can be a great soldier for Atlas!” There was another pause in Delphinia’s movements at the mention of the Atlas military, before she moved the pot in front of James.

“I’m sure you’ll have a spectacular semblance when you unlock it.” Hoping to quickly change the subject, Delphinia gestured to the flower. “Now then, you get to be my little helper! I need you to hold the flower upright in the pot where it’s not  _ quite _ touching the bottom while I pour in the soil. Can you do that for me?”

“Of course!” Lifting the flower up, James did his best to focus and hold the flower steady in the pot as his mother slid the bag of soil over and began to pour it in. The pot filled up quickly, and before he knew it, the flower was standing upright on its own.

“There we go.” As the pot reached capacity, Delphinia tilted the bag upright once more and pushed it to the back of the table to lean against the wall. “Perfect!”

Letting go of the flower, James sat for a moment and merely admired the beauty of the flower he’d help plant. Delphinia reached forward to lift the pot and stepped from the table with an outstretched hand.

“Now then, let’s get you that cocoa.”

\----

James eagerly sipped his cocoa the moment his mother handed it to him. The pair had made their way to a rather spacious living room with the pink and yellow flower sitting in the windowsill getting what little light managed to break through the clouds above. Their couches were massive and much like everything else in their home matched the usual atlas colors of white and gray. The floor was made of a smooth polished stone and like the rest of their home was heated to keep their feet warm and Delphinia’s heels clicked along it as she moved to sit in her favorite pale blue chair.

“Alright James, are you ready for me to tell you about the war?” Delphinia stared down at the surface of her cocoa as she sat, a knot forming slowly in her stomach that caused her to instead place it gently down on a coaster resting on the small table beside her chair.

“Mmhmm!” Nodding between sips, James jumped up on the couch closest to her and scooted as far over as he could manage without falling off to be as close to his mother as possible.

“Well, let’s start at the beginning shall we? Your teachers told you the general ideas, but did they tell you what really started the fight in Sanus?” Delphinia looked towards her excited son in hopes that she wouldn’t have to contradict his teachers lest she end up confusing the poor child.

“Umm, not really. They said Vale had this island and they let Mistral people live there, and then suddenly there was a big fight that sorta triggered the whole thing.” With a look of concentration, James did his best to recall the precise details his teachers had shared with him and his class, and nodded confidently as he answered.

“Well then, to start the story we have to go back just a  _ little _ bit further than Sanus to get the big picture.” Delphinia looked towards James, his eyes fixated on her in preparation to soak in every detail of the story she was about to share, before turning to stare thoughtfully out the window as she began to tell the tale as best she knew.

“As you know, the Kingdom’s formed so that humanity could band together and survive against the creatures of Grimm. Big nasty creatures I’m sure you’ve heard all about, Grimm are attracted to a very simple human emotion: fear. However, just because man had banded together didn’t mean they were entirely safe. In fact, as more and more humans formed groups, they could collectively be made afraid, and with more and more scared people in one place it caused more and more Grimm to show up. People tried all sorts of things like building walls, training more fighters, and using dust to try and defend themselves, but even with all those resources at their disposal, mankind still struggled to protect themselves.  One day, the leader of Mantle had an idea. He thought that if we could keep people from being afraid, then the Grimm would just leave us alone! It seemed like a good idea, but nobody really knew how to make it happen; fear is simply part of being human after all. Fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of being hurt…” Delphinia trailed off slightly as she glanced towards James to gauge his reaction thus far. She’d hoped he’d be able to keep up, and with a brief pause for questions or interjections, was instead surprised to see him leaning further and further over the edge of his seat.

“And? What happened next! How did they figure out how to stop being afraid?” The curiosity of her son was a blessing, and Delphinia was thankful that at the very least he seemed to be absorbing the information well enough.

“Well, he decided that if people could control their emotions, then they could control their fear. To that end, he decided to start putting a ban on anything related to the arts and expressionism. He thought that if people didn’t express themselves they wouldn’t be able to fail or get hurt, which would naturally mean people wouldn’t have anything to be afraid of anymore. Mantle adopted these beliefs, and to an extent so did Mistral, but Vale didn’t quite agree with these new rules.” Delphinia went to continue her story, but this particular portion seemed to spur a response in her son.

“Boo! Mean old Vale! If people aren’t afraid anymore then the Grimm would leave us alone and nobody would get hurt! What’s not to agree with!” Having finished his cocoa while enraptured with the story, James slid his mug onto the table at the end of the couch and hopped down to move even closer to his mother. Chuckling softly, she pat her lap to signal he could climb up, and as he did she wrapped him gently in her arms.

“Well, Vale thought that people have the right to be happy. Expression isn’t just about being afraid, there’s all sorts of feelings people can have! Joy, love, that warm feeling in your stomach when you have a tasty cup of cocoa...” With a giggle, Delphinia reached down to tickle James’ stomach, and as he squirmed against her tickles he couldn’t help but let out a giggle of his own. “You wouldn’t want there to be no more cocoa now would you?” 

“I guess not, but if it meant no more Grimm I think I could do it!” No longer at the mercy of tickles, James gave a firm look up to his mother.

“I couldn’t.” The knot in her stomach had slowly begun to unwind, and to prove her point Delphinia reached towards her own untouched cup of cocoa and took a heavy sip. “Yum!”

“Even if it meant no more Grimm!?” Seemingly shocked by his mother’s response, James stared up in surprise at his mother as she took another sip.

“Maybe if it was  _ just _ cocoa, but Mantle and Mistral were forcing their people to give up all sorts of things.” Delphinia looked up and gestured towards the beautiful flower resting gentle in their windowsill. “All the yummy foods, all the cartoons and movies, and all the beautiful flowers disappeared. Mantle and Mistral outlawed pretty much anything a person could like, and life became dull and without color or beauty. Vale, however, saw the beauty that existed in the world, and thought that being able to experience all that joy and wonder was worth having to deal with the Grimm.”

James followed his mother’s gaze and simply stared at the flower in the window. Deep in thought, he leaned softly into his mother and gave her a hug.

“I wouldn’t want you to have to give up your flowers! I like seeing you happy!” There was a sadness in his voice, and while most circumstances this would have caused Delphinia to feel shame for bringing such sorrow to her son, a part of her was happy that he understood the point she was making. Gently placing her arms around him once more she returned the gesture and pulled him in tight.

“I know you do…” Delphinia felt her eyes begin to water, her throat tightened slightly in a rush of joy over the love of her son.

“What’s wrong?” Pulling away ever so slightly from the embrace of his mother, James looked up as a single tear escaped down her cheek.

“It’s nothing dear. I’m okay, I just have something in my eye.” Sniffling once, Delphinia lifted an arm to wipe her eyes with the snowy white sleeves of her snowy blouse. “Now, where was I…”

“You were talking about Vale wanting everything to be beautiful!” Still with a hint of worry in his eyes, James couldn’t help but eagerly listen in for the remainder of the story.

“Ah, yes. So, Vale, Mistral, and Mantle, and at a later time Vacuo, participated in what we now call The Great War, each believing their way of handling things was the best way. Eventually though, Vale came out the victor, and when the war ended a whole bunch of things changed.” Delphinia had managed to recollect herself and raised a brow down towards James as he began to eagerly hop up and down in her lap.

“Oh, oh! Like the color rule!” James grinned eagerly, proud of himself for remembering the law Vale had put into place after winning the war, and smiled even brighter as his mother nodded approvingly.

“Precisely! But did you know that Vale  _ also _ helped establish all the Huntsman Academies for all of the Kingdoms?” Watching as James’ eyes went wide, Delphinia could see that his teachers clearly hadn’t mentioned  _ that _ particular fact.

“Really? Even Atlas?” James’ shock only seemed to grow as his mother gave a slow nod of confirmation. “Wow, I didn’t know that!”

“Even Atlas. Vale wanted to make sure that people could feel safe and protected by Huntsman and Huntresses, that they could experience all the wonders of the world like pretty flowers and tasty cocoa without worrying about the Grimm. In a way, they helped solve the problem of how to keep people from being afraid that Mantle had been trying to solve at the start of the war.” Delphinia glanced once more towards the flowing resting in their windowsill, smiling softly that she lived in a time where she could experience such beauty with a son who showed so much passion. James followed her gaze towards the flower and she felt him squeeze her tight.

“Now I want to be a Huntsman even more! I wanna be the strongest Huntsman, who can protect everyone, especially you mom!” Looking up at his mother, James surprised her with the fire in his eyes. “I want people to feel safe, and I’d do anything to make sure that people are safe and can see all the pretty flowers and drink as much tasty cocoa as they want!”

“Well, you’ve got to get through the academy first, but I don't think you'll have any trouble with that. I know I’d feel even safer knowing there’s a strong boy like you looking over me.” Delphinia reached ouch, pulling her son into a tight embrace, and for a time they simply sat in the silence filled with thoughts of the future.

\----

Waking from a rest he hadn’t meant to take, a man with many more years on him than the bright eyed boy of his past lifted his head with a slow groan. His eyes felt heavy, and despite how much he needed to sleep, a glance over his shoulder reminded him of the very reason he couldn’t afford it.

General James Ironwood stood slowly from his chair, a gloved hand covering the burn scars beneath, the other hand flexing a robotic appendage. Staring down at his hands, he couldn’t help but question the dream he’d had, the recollection of a memory from long ago. His gaze lingered for a time on the robotic arm, lamenting the amount that had changed in his life between then and now. Glancing up towards the window, his pupils focused on his reflection in the glass, scanning over the black beard he kept trimmed yet thick. Along the sides of his head, thick black hair had begun to gray, a price paid for the endless stress of the position he held.

As his eyes looked further, past the reflection and towards the darkness looming on the horizon, he couldn’t help but think about how small the prices he'd paid had been in the grand scheme of things. Clutching his hands behind his back, he stared out against the seemingly endless army of Grimm flowing forth from blackened clouds, and the enormous flying whale that carried the true enemy of all life in Remnant. His eyes narrowed, and with a heavy sigh he couldn’t help but remember that there was one part of his childhood that had stayed with him all this time.

That he would do anything, he would  _ sacrifice _ anything, to protect the beauty that existed in the world.

**Author's Note:**

> This was a concept I'd been bouncing around in my head for a while as a potential motivator for Ironwood. Aside from his semblance, I liked the idea that his mother was some form of artist, or tended a beautiful garden of sorts. She'd tell him about how much beauty there was in the world and he'd tell her about how much he wanted to be a Huntsman so he could protect people like her and all the beautiful parts of the world. To this end he recognizes even to this day that Salem is the ultimate antithesis to everything his mother taught him to believe in, and that even if he has to sacrifice hundreds if not thousands of people to protect Remnant, he's willing to do it because he knows that life and all the beauty it holds will still be there for those who survive. If anything, to him, he's one of the only ones that truly appreciates what it is they're fighting for.


End file.
